May 15, 2013

Bryan “Lubu” Roberts has been performing as his scripted alter ego Ghetto Sketch Warlock for years. After collaborating (and killing) with a bunch of awesome peeps at a Sketch Cover Night, Tastemakers was born. Tastemakers will be headlining the very first show of Austin Sketch Fest, Wednesday May 22nd 8pm at ColdTowne Theater, performing with Every Girl’s Annual (tickets here). Tastmakers Bryan, Quinn, and maybe Kyle answered our email.

How did your group come together?

Quinn Buckner: Bryan called us together for sketch cover night and we decided to keep doing stuff.

Bryan Roberts: Yeah, that was good. I think there’s a tape of one of those sketches floating around YouTube. Ah, here is is.

What’s your writing process like?

Quinn: One of us usually comes up with an idea and more often than not we have a cast picked out. Then we run through the sketch fleshing out lines and ideas iteratively.

Bryan: Yeah, this is kind of a version of the way I learned how to develop sketches from Dave Buckman when working on the ColdTowne Mainstage show. It generally works like a dream, especially when you do it with people who know what their strengths are. It gets funny pretty quick, and then you get to experiment with it, which makes it EXTRA fun.

What can we expect from your ASF show?

Bryan: Just friends hanging out, doing things that bother each other in a lighthearted way. And also we’ll share things with you that you probably wouldn’t have otherwise wanted to know. It’ll be great!

What are some of your biggest comedy influences?

Bryan: Mel Blanc. That guy just knew how to say a thing the right way. Um, early-to-middle aged Simpsons…I also get a kick out of-

Kyle Traughber: MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!*

Why sketch comedy?

Bryan: I just like the idea of it. It’s not a MOVIE, it’s not a SHOW, it’s just a little morsel of comedy. It also allows you to make your comedy super-crazy because it will only exist for around 5 minutes at a time. So even if you don’t like a certain thing, there’s another thing coming around the corner.

What are you looking forward to at Austin Sketch Fest?

Bryan: The out of town groups, of course. I don’t get out that much so it’ll be nice to see and meet people from other parts of the country. And the workshops!